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SSEMF presents outstanding
early chamber music on Lopez Island
thanks to your support.
The
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501(c)3 organization and all donations are
fully tax deductible in accordance with
the law. Your donations are welcomed at
https://www.salishseafestival.org/donate .
✣
With special thanks
✣ to
Grace Episcopal Church
2025
Salish
Sea Early Music Festival on Lopez Island ~
Period Instrument chamber music from six centuries
on Lopez Island and around the Salish Sea ~
~ Presented in
collaboration with Grace Episcopal Church ~
~
All Saturdays at
6:30 PM
★ download updated
flyer here
~
Saturday,
May 3 at 6:30 PM: —
The
MUSIQUE DE LA
CHAMBRE of LOUIS
XIV
· Caroline
Nicolas,
viola da gamba
· William
Simms,
baroque guitar
· Jeffrey
Cohan,
baroque flute
The
MUSIQUE DE LA
CHAMBRE of LOUIS XIV
features music by
prominent soloists,
all composers, who
frequently played
for Louis XIV,
including the king’s
guitar instructor
Robert De Visée and
his Italian
predecessor
Francesco Corbetta,
along with a
favorite viola da
gambist at the
court, Marin Marais
and his teacher
Monsieur de
Sainte-Colombe, as
well as Élisabeth
Jacquet de La
Guerre, a young
harpsichordist and
one of the few
famous female
musicians of her
time whose playing
and compositions
Louis deeply admired
and subsidized.
This program stands
apart in a variety
of ways. Jeffrey
Cohan discovered the
earliest known
French solo
specifically for the
transverse flute by
the king’s court
music librarian
André Danican
Philidor L'Aisné in
a relatively unknown
and as yet
unpublished
manuscript which was
prepared in 1695 by
Philidor himself as
a present from Louis
XIV for the Duke of
Bavaria. Marin
Marais asserted that
his music for viola
da gamba might be
played on the
transverse flute, as
is to be realized in
a Suite from his
first book of pieces
for viola da gamba.
Similarly a sonata
by Jacquet de La
Guerre assumes new
resonance in our
realization for
transverse flute,
gamba and guitar.
Caroline Nicolas and
William Simms will
perform solos for
viola da gamba and
guitar by De Visée,
Corbetta and
Sainte-Colombe.
The French musical
perspective emulated
reason and
moderation, with
sensory perception
serving
comprehension.
French musicians
aspired to thrill
the senses via the
intellect, in a
continual search for
grace and elegance.
Dance was viewed as
the consummate
expression of the
mastery of body and
mind and the epitome
of aristocratic art,
as evidenced by
Louis XIV's daily
dance lessons for 20
years alongside
frequent guitar
lessons. Every
French court and
church musician
reflected musically
their determination
to depict refinement
and true sentiments,
while dispensing
with excessive
turbulence and
contrast. All of
this contrasted
greatly with the
Italian focus on the
direct expression of
emotions via their
virtuoso and
flamboyant approach,
which was indeed
admired in some
circles in France.
Sat.,
May 24
at 6:30 PM: — CONCERTI
from the COURT of
FREDERICK THE
GREAT
· David
Schrader,
harpsichord
· Jeffrey
Cohan,
baroque flute
· Elizabeth
Phelps,
baroque violin
· Courtney
Kuroda,
baroque violin
·
Christine
Moran,
baroque viola
· Susie
Napper,
baroque cello
A concerto by
Frederick II, the
monarch of Prussia
from 1740, will be
included alongside
the Suite in B
Minor by Johann
Sebastian Bach,
whose visit to the
king's court in
1747 is legendary,
and concerti by
Frederick's
keyboardist Carl
Philipp Emanuel
Bach for both
harpsichord and
flute.
Saturday, June
7 at 6:30
PM: — FOLK
SONG FROM
THREE
CENTURIES II
· Oleg
TImofeyev,
renaissance
lute, English
guitar &
7-string
guitar (made
in 1820)
·
Jeffrey
Cohan,
renaissance,
baroque &
8-keyed flutes
(London, 1820)
Renaissance
Psalms
(~1620), Irish
and Scottish
baroque
(~1720) and
folk music as
interpreted
during
Beethoven's
lifetime
(~1820) in a
new program of
highly
experimental
renditions of
popular music
from three
centuries
performed on 5
transverse
flutes and
three plucked
instruments.
Early July: — THE
18TH-CENTURY
HARPSICHORD IN
SPAIN
(only
in Seattle,
Vancouver and
Tacoma -
please see
those pages on
our site)
· Irene
Roldàn,
harpsichord
Step into the heart of
18th-century Iberia,
where the vibrant
court of Madrid stood
as a focal point for
the flourishing of the
rich keyboard music of
Domenico Scarlatti,
Sebastian de Albero,
Jose de Nebra, and the
Portuguese Carlos
Seixas. [only in
certain locations]
Saturday, July
12 at 6:30
PM: — JOHANN
SEBASTIAN BACH
· Irene
Roldàn,
harpsichord
· Jeffrey
Cohan,
baroque flute
Spanish harpsichordist
Irene Roldàn from
Basel and Jeffrey
interpret Bach's
phenomenal music for
flute and harpsichord.
UKRAINE
Olena
Zhukova
It is a great honor
to feature Ukrainian
harpsichordist Olena
Zhukova of
Kyiv, Ukraine, a
leading
harpsichordist and a
tireless ambassador
of
early music in
her country and
abroad
during this
difficult period.
She has performed
since the outbreak
of full-scale war in
prominent
performances
sponsored by
distinguished
institutions all
around Ukraine,
Poland, Austria,
France, Switzerland
and Czech Republic
for international
festivals and in
collaboration with
major artists,
orchestras and opera
productions. Ms.
Zhukova is also an
accomplished scholar
who published and
presented more than
20 articles, while
devoting herself to
her harpsichord
class and chamber
music students as
Associate Professor
at both the National
Music Academy of
Ukraine and
the Gliére
Academy of Music
(Kiev), where she
founded the
harpsichord class.
Recent engagements
during the past few
months alone include
Bach's Goldberg
Variations in the
prestigious Organ
Hall in Lviv,
Ukraine; the first
major classical
performance for the
public in Chernihiv,
Ukraine since
the outbreak of war
entitled French
Music in Times
of War
and sponsored by the
Ambassador of
France, in a newly
rebuilt performance
hall in Chernihiv
that had previously
been extensively
damaged by a Russian
strike at the
beginning of the
conflict; and an
involved program,
consisting
exclusively of new
music in part
composed for her by
today's Ukrainian
composers, for
Columbia
University’s Global
Center in Paris
and its Institute
for Ideas and
Imagination.
Ms.
Zhukova will appear
in the following two
programs:
Dates
to be announced: —
HARPSICHORD
MYSTERY
(Seattle,
Vancouver and
Tacoma only)
· Elena
Zhukova,
harpsichord
The Ukrainian
harpsichordist
deciphers mysterious
and elusive rarities
as well as standards
for solo harpsichord
by Byrd, Couperin,
Rameau and Scarlatti
alongside Ukrainian
gems including a
harpsichord sonata
by Dmitry
Bortnyansky. [only
in Seattle,
Vancouver and
Tacoma]
Dates
to be announced:
— EUROPEAN
TOUR 1690-1790
· Elena
Zhukova,
harpsichord
· Jeffrey
Cohan,
baroque flute
An excursion through a
century of
transformation and
diversity by decade
and culture within the
baroque and classical
periods, through the
perspective of
composers for
harpsichord and flute
from France, Italy,
Scotland, Germany and
Ukraine.
~
Earlier concerts this 2025 season
~
Saturday,
January 18,
2025 at
6:30 PM: — THE
CANZONA
· Vicki
Boeckman,
renaissance recorders
· Tina
Chancey,
tenor viol
· Jeffrey
Cohan,
renaissance transverse
flutes
· Anna
Marsh,
dulcian (renaissance
bassoon)
Featuring special
guest renaissance
specialist and
innovative
improviser Tina
Chancey from
Hesperus in
Washington, DC,
this in-depth
exploration of the
Italian four-part
canzona, which
blossomed in print
from 1577 through
the mid 1600’s,
traces its
development from
1533, when
commercial music
printing was in
its infancy in
Europe, through
1636 at which
point more
“baroque”
stylistic forms
such as the sonata
and the suite had
begun to emerged.
Canzonas by
Florentino
Maschera (1582),
Floriano Canale
(1600), Giovanni
Dominico Rognoni
Taegio (1605),
Antonio Troilo
(1606), Giovanni
Gabrieli (1608),
Girolamo
Frescobaldi
(1608), Giovanni
Antonio Cangiasi
(1614), Giacomo
Biumi (1624),
Nicolo Corradini
(1624), Giovanni
Buonamente (1636)
and others are to
be included in the
program along with
examples of the
earlier French and
Flemish songs of
the early 1500's
that inspired
them, including
well known
chansons published
specifically for
instrumentalists
in 1533, 1577 and
1588, among them
Clement
Jannequin’s “Song
of the Birds”.
Renaissance winds
of three distinct
families along
with the fretted
viols provide an
exciting blend and
a distinct
character to each
of the four
intertwining
musical lines.
Saturday,
February
22, 2025
at 6:30 PM:
— THE
CHACONNE with
LES VOIX
HUMAINES
· Susie
Napper,
viola da gamba
& treble
viol
·
Mélisande
Corriveau,
viola da gamba
&
pardessus de
viol
·
Elisabeth
Wright,
harpsichord
·
Jeffrey
Cohan,
baroque and
renaissance
flutes
Les
Voix humaines,
the widely
celebrated
prize-winning
duo of viols
from Montreal
joins us for a
program
demonstrating
the chaconne
at it's most
poignant,
transporting
three
important
works by
Johann
Sebastian Bach
to an entirely
new level
through their
own
transcriptions,
and presenting
other
remarkable but
rarely heard
repertoire for
two viola da
gambas,
pardessus de
viol, flute
and
harpsichord.
The
hypnotic
French
chaconne that
developed
during the
reign of Louis
XIV brings the
listener from
one emotional
realm to the
next in a
regular
procession of
episodes that
transition
gently in an
emotional
direction or
leap suddenly
with emotion
and stark
contrast, now
uplifting or
sad, majestic
or
introspective,
hopeful or
questioning.
The pulse may
feel broader,
then more
angular, then
running with
abandon or
pregnant with
poise, always
cleverly
evolving in
the
presentation
of a musical
story.
Bach
and Telemann
succeed in
bringing this
chaconne to a
whole new
level, as
we'll
experience
with "Les Voix
Humaines" in
their very own
transcription
of Bach's Chaconne
in D Minor
for 2 viola da
gambas,
originally for
solo violin,
and in the
chaconne
entitled Modéré
from
Telemann's Paris
Quartet No. 12
in E Minor
for flute,
pardessus de
viole, viola
da gamba and
harpischord.
Two
outstanding
quartets for
two viola da
gambas, flute
and
harpsichord
celebrating
this unusual
combination of
instruments
will be heard
alongside two
additional
transcriptions:
for flute,
pardessus de
viol and
harpsichord of
Bach's Organ
Trio Sonata in
D Minor,
and for solo
harpsichord of
the Allemande
from Bach's D
Major Suite
No. 6 for
solo cello.
From
the standpoint
of the Salish
Sea Early
Music Festival
and as Tobias
Hume asserted
in 1605, "Now
to use a
modest
shortness, and
a brief
expression of
my self to all
noble
spirits": Les
Voix Humaines
is simply
phenomenal!
In
1676, Thomas
Mace
accurately
expressed
their
sentiments: "I
have been more
Sensibly,
Fervently, and
Zealously
Captivated,
and drawn into
Divine
Raptures, and
Contemplations,
by Those
Unexpressible
Rhetorical,
Uncontroulable
Perswasions,
and
Instructions
of Musicks
Divine
Language."
A perfect
description of
their vision
of music
making, Sloane
wrote c.1794:
"There must be
an Order and
just
Proportion,
Intricacy with
Simplicity in
the Component
parts, Variety
in the Mass,
and Light and
Shadow in the
whole, so as
to produce the
varied
sensations of
gaiety and
melancholy, of
wildness and
even surprise
and wonder…"
And as Thomas
Mace says in
1676: "…When
we come to be
Masters… we
can command
all manner of
Time, at our
own Pleasures;
we Then take
Liberty for
Humour and
good
Adornment-sake,
to Break Time;
sometimes
Faster,
sometimes
Slower, as we
perceive, the
Nature of the
Thing
Requires,
which…adds
much Grace and
Luster to the
Performance."
Saturday,
March
8,
2025 at 6:30
PM:
—
FRENCH
BAROQUE TRIO
SONATAS
with MUSICA
ALTA RIPA
·
Anne
Röhrig,
violin
·
Bernward
Lohr,
harpsichord
·
Susie
Napper,
viola da gamba
·
Jeffrey
Cohan,
baroque flute
French
trio sonatas
and quartets
spanning more
than 60 years,
through the
reigns of
Louis XIV and
Louis V,
alongside a
"Paris
Quartet" by
Georg Philipp
Telemann,
written for
Telemann's
visit to Paris
in 1738.
Marin
Marais (1656 –
1728)
—
Trio
C major (1682)
Jean-Baptiste
Quentin, the
young (before
1690 – ca.
1742)
—
Trio
in G minor
Opus 8 No. 1
(after 1729)
Louis-Gabriel
Guillemain
(1705 –
1770)
—
Trio
Sonata No. 3
in D Minor
(1743)
Jean-Marie
Leclair l'aîné
(1697 – 1764)
—
Violin
Sonata in A
Minor
Joseph Bodin
de Boismortier
(1689 – 1755)
—
Trio
Sonata Opus 37
No. 2 in e
minor (1732)
MUSICA
ALTA RIPA
Harpsichordist
BERNWARD LOHR
is director of
Hanover's
Musica Alta
Ripa, one of
Germany's most
active and
extensively
recorded
period
instrument
ensembles.
Baroque
violinist ANNE
RÖHRIG, leads
the
Hannoversche
Hofkapelle
(the "Hanover
Court
Orchestra"),
another of the
premier
baroque
orchestras
that
contributes to
the vibrant
early music
scene in
Hannover and
Northern
Germany.
“Hannover”
originally
evolved from
"Hohes Ufer",
meaning "high
riverbank" or
"Alta Ripa" in
Latin.
Bernward Lohr
and Anne
Röhrig are
professors at
music
conservatories
in both
Hannover and
Nuremburg,
Germany. Their
more than 30
recordings
have garnered
many of the
most important
awards in
Europe for
recordings
including the
Diapason Dòr,
the Cannes
Classical
Award, the
German
Recording
Critics'
Prize, and
several times
the coveted
Echo Klassik
Award. Both
were awarded
the 2002 Music
Award of Lower
Saxony.
~
Last Season
~
✣
✣
✣Saturday,
JANUARY 20, 2024
at 1:00 PM at Grace Church ✣
✣
✣
THREE
CENTURIES:
GUITAR,
THEORBO & FLUTE
Michael
Freimuth
~
renaissance guitar & theorbo ~
Jeffrey Cohan
~
renaissance & baroque flutes ~
16th
Century
Diego
Ortiz • William Byrd
Giovanni
Bassano
Girolamo
Dalla Casa
17th
Century
Giovanni
Paulo Cima
Girolamo
Frescobaldi
Giovanni
Battista Fontana
Giovanni
Battista Buonamenti
Bartolomé
de Selma y Salaverde
18th
Century
Arcangelo
Corelli
• André Chéron
Robert
de Visée
Join
us for the opening 2024 Salish Sea Early
Music Festival and an unusual and
expansive journey through the music for
guitar, lute and flute of the 16th, 17th
and 18th centuries, including elaborate
jazzed-up versions of well known songs
of the time, published by the incredible
wind instrument virtuosi of the late
16th century, along with canzonas,
sonatas and suites from Spain, Italy,
England and France. The instruments
include the renaissance guitar, which is
considerably smaller and more
mellow-toned than its modern descendant,
theorbo (an extremely long-necked lute),
the one-piece cylindrical renaissance
flute along with the bass renaissance
flute, and the one-keyed baroque flute.
✣
✣
✣Saturday,
February 17, 2024 at 1:00 pm on
Lopez ✣
✣
✣
SIMPHONIE
NOUVELLE:
LOUIS
XIV & J.S. BACH
Stephen
Stubbs
~ baroque
guitar ~
Susie
Napper
~
viola da gamba ~
Jeffrey
Cohan
~
baroque flute ~
guitarists
Diego
Francesco Corbetta (1615-1681) Robert
De Visée (c.1655-1733) viola
da gambists
Monsieur
de Sainte Colombe
(c.1640-c.1700) Marin
Marais (1656-1728) Jacques
Morel (c.1680-c.1740) flutist
Michel
de la Barre (c.1675-1745) composers
Élisabeth
Claude Jacquet de la Guerre (1665-1729)
François Couperin (1668-1733) Johann
Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Louis
XIV gathered the finest musicians of
France at his court in Versailles and this
program features many of the late 17th and
early 18th-century guitarists, viola da
gambists, flutists and other composers
associated with his illustrious musical
establishment, alongside the Sonata in E
Minor, BWV 1034 of Johann Sebastian Bach.
✣
✣
✣Saturday,
February 24, 2024 at 1:00 pm
on Lopez ✣
✣
✣
GEORG
PHILIPP TELEMANN:
PARIS QUARTETS
David
Greenberg
~
baroque
violin ~
Elisabeth
Wright
~
harpsichord ~
Susie
Napper
~
viola da gamba ~
Jeffrey
Cohan
~
baroque flute ~
Quadri
a violino, flauto traversiere, viola
da gamba
o violoncello, e fondamento (1730):
Concerto
II in D Major
Sonata
II in G Minor
Nouveaux
quatuors en six suites (1738):
Premier
Quatuor in D Major 4e.
Quatuor in B Minor
Having been invited by several
of the most prominent French
musicians to visit Paris,
Telemann composed and published
the first set of his remarkable
"Paris Quartets" in 1730, and
left Hamburg for Paris seven
years later, where all 12 of the
quartets were performed, almost
surely with Teleman himself on
the harpsichord. The second set
of quartets was published in
Paris during this visit in 1738.
Two years later Telemann related
the following:
"The admirable performances of
these quartets by Messrs Blavet
(transverse flute), Guignon
(violin), the younger Forcroy
[i.e. Forqueray] (viola da
gamba) and Edouard (cello) would
be worth describing were it
possible for words to be found
to do them justice. In short,
they won the attention of the
ears of the court and the town,
and procured for me in a very
little time an almost universal
renown and increased esteem."
✣
✣
✣Saturday,
March 23, 2024 at 1:00 PM on
Lopez Island ✣
✣
✣
FRANZ
JOSEPH HAYDN
TRIOS
Jeffrey
Cohan
~
8-keyed flute
~
Lindsey
Strand-Polyak
~
baroque
violin ~
Martin
Bonham
~
baroque cello ~
Franz
Joseph Haydn
Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart
Franz
Anton Hoffmeister
François
Devienne
As the most celebrated
composer in all of Europe for
much of his career, Franz
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) was
Mozart’s mentor and friend as
well as Beethoven’s tutor. The
program will include three
trios for flute, violin and
cello by Haydn, selections
from a 1795 arrangement for
these instruments of Mozart’s
opera “The Magic Flute”, and a
trio by Franz Anton
Hoffmeister, a friend of
Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven
who published music by all
three.
✣
✣
✣Saturday,
April 6, 2024 at 1:00 PM at Grace
Church ✣
✣
✣ Myers">
SPRINGTIME
BAROQUE:
AIRS for SPRING
Arwen
Myers
~
soprano
~
Elisabeth
Wright
~
harpsichord
~
Jeffrey
Cohan
~
baroque
flute ~
Johann
Sebastin Bach
Seele,
deine Spätzereien
(from
the Easter Oratorio)
Louis-Nicolas
Clérambault
Orphée
(Cantata)
George
Frideric Handel
Singe,
Seele & Flammende Rose
(from
9 German Arias)
Toussaint
Bordet
Recueil
D'Airs Avec Accompagnement de Flute
(selections)
Louis Couperin
Les
Fauvétes Plaintives & La
Linote-éfarouchée
(harpsichord
solo)
✣
✣
✣Saturday,
May 4, 2024 at 1:00 PM at
Grace Church ✣
✣
✣
RENAISSANCE
PSALMS,
IRISH
BAROQUE & FOLK
Oleg
TImofeyev
renaissance
lute, English guitar
&
7-string guitar (1820)
Jeffrey Cohan
renaissance
& baroque flutes
&
8-keyed flute (1820)
17th
Century
Nicolas
Vallet
Jacob
Van Eyck
Girolamo
Dalla Casa
18th
Century
James
Oswald
Francesco
Barsanti
Turlough
O'Carolan
19th
Century
Mauro
Giuliani
Louis
Drouet
Charles
Nicholson
This
program, in three
parts, opens with
settings of Psalms and
variations on folk
melodies by early
17th-century flutist
Jacob Van Eyck,
lutenist Nicolas
Vallet and others
performed on renaissance
descant, tenor and
bass transverse
flutes and
lute. Then, baroque
flute and the rare
but once quite
popular wire-strung
English Guitar of the
18th century is to be
heard performing the
folk tunes of Scotland
and Ireland as
interpreted and varied
by the early
18th-century composers
Francesco Barsanti,
Turlough O'Carolan,
James Oswald and
others. Finally, an
Eastern European
7-string guitar made
in 1820 in Russia
alongside an
eight-keyed flute made
in London in the same
year bring to life
variations on popular
tunes by Mauro
Giuliani, Louis
Drouet, Charles
Nicholson and other
virtuoso flutists and
guitarists of
Beethoven’s day.
✣
✣
✣Saturday
afternoon, May 25, 2024 at
1 PM on Lopez Island
✣
✣
✣
BAROQUE
CONCERTI
Carrie
Krause
~
baroque
violin ~
Jonathan
Oddie
~
harpsichord ~
Jeffrey
Cohan
~
baroque flute ~ Elizabeth
Phelps & Courtney
Kuroda
~
baroque
violin ~
Victoria
Gunn
~
baroque
viola ~
Martin
Bonham
~
baroque cello ~
JACQUES
AUBERT
Concerto
in D Major, Opus 26 No. 3
ANTONIO
VIVALDI
Flute
Concerto "La Notte",
Opus 10 No. 2
CARL
PHILIPP EMANUEL BACH
Flute
Concerti in D Minor,
Wq 22a
JOHANN
SEBASTIAN BACH Triple
Concerto in A Minor for
Harpsichord, Violin and
Flute, BWV 1044
✣
✣Tuesday,
July 9, 2024 at
7:00 PM at Grace
Church ✣
✣
(originally
scheduled for Saturday
July 6)
Johann
Sebastian
BACH
Faythe
Vollrath
~
harpsichord ~
Jeffrey Cohan
~
baroque flute
~
Harpsichordist
Faythe
Vollrath from
Sacramento, CA
will join
baroque
flutist
Jeffrey Cohan
for this
mostly-Bach
extravaganza
in the eighth
and final 2024
Salish Sea
Early Music
Festival
performance
demonstrating
the
unparalleled
mystery and
emotional
intensity of
Bach’s
compositional
abilities,
featuring
transcriptions
of his works
originally for
viola da gamba
and another
for violin,
both with
obbligato (or
fully
written-out)
harpsichord in
addition to
sonatas
originally
written for
flute by Bach
both with
continuo (a
bass line with
numbers
denoting
harmonies from
which the
harpsichordist
improvises)
and with
obbligato
harpsichord.
Faythe
Vollrath will
play
variations for
solo
harpsichord by
Johann Adam
Reinken
(1643-1722) on
the popular
German folk
tune
“Schweiget mir
von
Weibernehmen”
(‘shush, no
more talk
about
womanizing”).
Reinken was
greatly
admired by
Bach, who made
arrangements
of several of
his works.
Fantasia
11 by Giovanni Bassano (1585)
January 11, 2021
~
updated
April 28, 2025 ~ Do you receive our email
announcements and flyers?!
Please sign our MAILING LIST (please specify Lopez
Island)
by sending your address
and any other comments to salishseafestival@aol.com
~ thank you!
SSEMF
banner: detail from "The Last Time it Reached
Zero" by James C. Holl. SSEMF presents outstanding
early chamber
music
on period instruments thanks
to your support.
LOPEZ ISLAND
Sat.,
May 24
at 6:30 PM: — CONCERTI
from the COURT of
FREDERICK THE
GREAT
Myers">
